As the nation celebrates Labor Day this weekend, Sen. Hilary Clinton, Robert Kennedy Jr., and other speakers at the United Farm Workers national convention in California are supporting passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers in Baker County and across the nation to unionize.

Baker County ranchers who raise cattle for Country Natural Beef wound up in the middle of the political battle over a key provision of the Employee Free Choice Act when Sen. Barack Obama weighed in on a labor dispute between the UFW and the Beef Northwest feedlot in Boardman that finishes cattle for Country Natural Beef.

In an Aug. 4 letter to John Wilson, an owner of Beef Northwest, Obama wrote of his “concerns about the breakdown in communication between Beef Northwest Feeders and the United Farm Workers.”

The UFW has demanded that Beef Northwest recognize card checks circulated among feedlot employees by union organizers. UFW officials claim they have collected signed cards from a majority of Beef Northwest workers who want to join the union.

By a 4-2 vote, the Baker City Council gave final approval Tuesday night to a sidewalk utility fee designed to, over the next five years, pay to repair or build sections of as many as 300 sidewalks.

The fee — $1 per month for residents, $2 for businesses — is expected to raise up to $60,000 annually, with no less than 25 percent going toward grants of up to $1,000 to help residents repair or construct sidewalks.

Mayor Jeff Petry and councilor Andrew Bryan voted no, while councilors Dennis Dorrah, Beverly Calder, Sam Bass and Terry Schumacher voted yes. Councilor Gail Duman was absent.

The city will begin assessing the sidewalk fee about Oct. 1.

The ordinance is not without its detractors.